Counterfeit goods: abatement.

Existing law provides that every building or place used for the purpose of illegal gambling, lewdness, assignation, or prostitution, and every building or place wherein or upon which these acts take place, is a nuisance that shall be enjoined, abated, and prevented, whether it is a public or private nuisance. Existing law authorizes a district attorney, city attorney, or citizen, as specified, to maintain an action to abate and prevent the nuisance and perpetually to enjoin the person conducting or maintaining it, and the owner, lessee, or agent of the building or place in or upon which the nuisance exists from directly or indirectly maintaining or permitting the nuisance. This bill would provide that if a person is convicted of a specified crime, then a nonresidential building or place used by that person for the purpose of willfully manufacturing, intentionally selling, or knowingly possessing for sale any counterfeit goods, defined to include counterfeit of a registered mark or any recording or audiovisual work, the cover, box, jacket, or label of which does not disclose specified information, shall be deemed a nuisance that may be enjoined, abated, and prevented, whether it is a public or private nuisance. The bill would make certain remedies and procedures in existing law, a violation of which is a crime, relative to the abatement of buildings or places where a nuisance exists applicable to these provisions. The bill would require a district attorney, city attorney, or city prosecutor that maintains an action or actions to enjoin, abate, or prevent a nuisance pursuant to these provisions to report, by October 1, 2013, to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary on their use of these abatement provisions and their effectiveness. The bill's provisions would become inoperative on January 1, 2015. Because a violation of a restraining order or an injunction relative to a nuisance pursuant to the provisions of this bill would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.